Seven Bucks Productions, the production company co-founded by Dwayne Johnson and his manager and ex-wife Dany Garcia, and Spike TV have announced the Rock The Troops show, a grand scale music and entertainment event to celebrate and entertain deployed US Troops serving overseas.
The Spike Original Special will be filmed at a military base overseas, location to be announced in the coming months. The special will bow on Veterans Day 2016 and the star-studded event will feature live performances from headliners from the worlds of music, movies, comedy, sports and more.
“Dwayne Johnson has always made supporting the brave men and women serving overseas a priority throughout his career. Our Mission is to honor, inspire and entertain in an epic way, as only The Rock can. He’ll bring all the heart, humor and big-bad energy that the world loves him for, to this show. I couldn’t have more dedicated partners than Dwayne, Dany and the Seven Bucks team for this very worthy event,” said Casey Patterson, Executive Producer.
“The Seven Bucks team and I are honored to help create this special project that is going to give back to our troops and thank them for all their dedication, bravery and sacrifice,” said Johnson. “We are going to make something truly monumental,” added Garcia.
Spike and Seven Bucks Productions announced a development deal at the Spike Upfront presentation to advertisers and press in March. This is the first special event announced as part of the deal.
WWE issued a press release today announcing that the company has surpassed half a billion fans through its global social media platforms.
WWE’s Facebook page has more fans than the NFL, ESPN, Marvel, Google and UFC, and WWE Superstar John Cena is the number 1 most followed active American athlete on Facebook with more than 36 million likes. On Facebook, WWE has 354 million total likes, including 98 million new likes, an increase of 38 percent year-over year.
On Twitter, @WWE has more followers than MLB, Disney, Sony and Pepsi and according to Klout, is the number 1 most influential brand on Twitter. WWE has a total of 108 million total followers, including 18 million new followers, an increase of 20 percent year-over-year.
On Instagram, WWE’s fastest-growing platform, @WWE has more followers than ESPN, HBO, NHL and Gatorade. WWE has a total of 26 million total followers, including 25 million new followers, an increase of 2,955 percent year-over-year. With Instagram, sharing your photos and videos has become part of many companies’ marketing strategy. The power to buy instagram followers has made this process much easier and can give you access to millions of viewers instantly.
With nearly 5 billion video views on YouTube in the past year alone, WWE is the number 1 sports channel ahead of the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, ESPN and NASCAR. The WWE’s YouTube channel has 6.2 million total subscribers, including 2.8 million new subscribers, an increase of 82 percent year-over-year.
Dwayne Johnson lost the number one spot in the box office after just one week as Melissa McCarthy’s Spy movie topped the weekend chart with an estimated $30 million.
San Andreas, featuring the former WWE champion The Rock, is estimated for second place with around $26 million, sending its domestic total to around $92 million in just two weeks. The movie will surpass its domestic $100 million mark in the next week.
So far the movie has a worldwide box office revenue of $152 million although this week’s numbers from overseas are not factored in yet.
The rumors of a WWE Hall of Fame physical location and WWE-themed restaurant popped up again during the weekend after Universal Studios announced that it was closing the NBA City at Universal Orlando CityWalk.
In a post on Facebook, Universal Orlando Resort said that it will announce the new concept soon as NBA City closes in late August.
The location was rumored to be the favorite for WWE to install a physical Hall of Fame showcase as well as a WWE-themed restaurant to go along with it.
Theme park website BehindTheThrills.com said the the rumors for the new concept include a Cheesecake Factory restaurant, the WWE option, or a Universal movie set restaurant although these are only rumors and it could be something totally different.
The idea of having a physical Hall of Fame has been in discussion for years but so far nothing has materialized.
After nearly a whole week, WWE.COM finally acknowledged Tyson Kidd’s injury although failed to give out any decent information.
“Tyson Kidd sustained an injury while competing in a non-televised match against Samoa Joe last Monday night, June 1, in San Antonio,” the statement reads. “As the former WWE Tag Team Champion continues to be evaluated, check back with WWE.com for the latest information on Kidd’s condition.”
His wife Natalya admitted on Twitter that they’re going through some “challenging times” right now and appreciated all the people who reached out and offered support.
Kidd is rumored to be out for months as the neck injury is pretty serious.
The WWE Japan website has announced the card for the July 4 WWE Network special event which will take place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
The top three matches listed are John Cena and Dolph Ziggler taking on Kane and King Barrett. Brock Lesnar will make a very rare appearance at a live event taking on Kofi Kingston, and the NXT title will be on the line as Kevin Owens defends against Fin Balor.
Other matches include Nikki Bella vs Paige vs Naomi for the WWE Divas title, Neville vs Chris Jericho, Lucha Dragons vs Los Matadores, and the WWE Tag Team titles will also be on the line with The New Day defending against a team yet to be announced. The original match had Kidd and Cesaro but Tyson Kidd is out injured and unable to compete.
The show will air live exclusively on the WWE Network at 6:30AM EST.
WWE announced this week that it will be returning to Spain with two non-televised live events on November 6 and 7.
The first event will take place in Barcelona at Palau Olimpic de Badalona on Friday, November 6, and the following day in Madrid at Barclaycard Center Madrid.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased from proactiv.es, elcorteingles.es, misterentradas.com and ticketmaster.es. Ticket prices range from €20 to €150.
“Proactiv and Atresmedia are pleased to partner with WWE to bring WWE Live back to Spain,” said Nicolas Renna, Managing Partner of Proactiv, Live Entertainment and Brand Events. “WWE offers a unique blend of sports and entertainment, combining in-ring action with dramatic storylines that always deliver for the fans.”
Justin Roberts, the former WWE ring announcer, is the latest subject of a blog entry on the Sports Illustrated website where he talks about his upcoming book and the politics that dominate the WWE business.
Taking a shot at Triple H, Roberts said that everyone thought that Triple H would be the savior of the company and of professional wrestling once Vince stepped away however the popular opinion backstage changed once HHH started running things.
“When he took over, our live events schedule was brutal. We’d start in one place and flew all over. Since he used to be one of the boys on the road, we thought he’d stand up and stop that, and he didn’t. The schedule got worse,” Roberts revealed.
Roberts also said that all Triple H cares is NXT which is baby and he is ignoring the present and focusing only on the future. He name dropped Superstars such as Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler, Primo and Epico as those who are popular with fans but who are destined to fail anyway cause of the glass ceiling.
“Daniel Bryan is a rare exception, despite the company fighting it over and over,” he added, saying that fans get strongly behind certain individuals but unless the company wants it, they won’t go over.
Jessica Cricks, known better to fans as Havok, attended tryouts at the WWE Performance Center this week even though she’s still listed on the TNA website under the Knockouts section.
The former Knockouts champion has not been used much on television lately and last appeared on the Lockdown-themed edition of Impact four months ago. Her presence at the Performance Center suggests that she is not actually under a TNA deal otherwise she would not have been able to appear.
WWE hosted a group of indy wrestlers for the week as they seek to add more talent under developmental contracts.
After the weird angle that aired on Impact showing James Storm pushing Mickie James down on a train track, ImpactWrestling.com continued playing the storyline at least confirming that James is “not dead.”
When Storm pushed her he said it was “a long way down” while laughing and following the show Mickie was tweeting in third person for some odd reason.
The TNA website now states that “security at the train station” confirmed that Mickie “briefly blacked out and showed symptoms of a concussion,” adding that she underwent tests and passed all concussion field tests although she “was emotionally disturbed following the events.”
The video submissions deadline for the new season of Tough Enough is today as the company then has to choose its top male and female submissions for a live debut on June 23.
The new season of Tough Enough, which airs on USA Network, will be co-hosted by Chris Jericho and Renee Young and features a panel including Hulk Hogan, Daniel Bryan, and Paige. The trainers this year will be Billy Gunn, Lita, and Booker T.
A male and female winner will be crowned at the end of the season with each of them earning a $250,000 one year WWE deal.
Former WWE tag team title holder Tyson Kidd has apparently been injured during the closing moments of his dark match against Samoa Joe this past Monday.
Joe performed his Muscle Buster finishing move on Kidd and the Canadian landed hard on his neck. PWInsider.com reports that the rumor is that Kidd will be out for months.
So far WWE has not confirmed the injury and while Kidd has not tweeted about anything for the past few days, his wife Natalya did.
“Going through some challenging times right now… Realizing that friends and family are absolutely EVERYTHING,” she wrote in a post on her Instagram.
She then posted on Twitter saying that she was grateful for everyone who has reached out, offered support and checked on them daily.
You can see the video of the incident from Monday below.
Mickie James was apparently “killed off” (!?!?) last night on Impact during a segment with James Storm at a train station.
First, Mickie and James have a conversation on a couch where he asks her to join him on his journey and be a part of The Revolution. Mickie says she’s sorry that he “misread this” and they’re just friends. Storm, visibly pissed off, then said that as a friend he’s going to stand behind her and went with her to the train station.
Then as the two are standing on the train platform, Storm bumps Mickie off and she dropped onto the train tracks.
“Boy, that’s a long way down,” Storm says while he laughs.
Now what’s even more weird is that Mickie James is tweeting…in third person.
It was announced during this week’s NXT episode that the NXT title will be on the line on the July 4 WWE show from Tokyo, Japan, live on the WWE Network.
This will be a special that will air only on the WWE Network starting at 6:30AM EST due to the time difference. WWE Superstars scheduled to be on the card are John Cena, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, and more.
Finn Balor, who is now the number one contender, will wrestle NXT champion Kevin Owens in a match that many expect Balor to win considering Owens is being moved permanently to the main roster. Balor, as Prince Devitt, has quite a long history in Japan and this would be the perfect place for him to grab the title.
The show will take place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Hall in Tokyo.
WWE and Sky Italia announced yesterday that they have extended their television distribution deal for five more years with Sky airing exclusively Raw, Smackdown, NXT, Experience, and Main Event through 2020.
In addition, Cielo, Sky Italia’s free-to-air channel which is available in more than 24 million homes, will air one-hour versions of Raw and SmackDown weekly on Sundays at 10AM and 11AM respectively, and all 12 WWE live, pay-per-view specials, including WrestleMania and SummerSlam, will continue to be available on Sky Prima Fila.
“We are thrilled to renew our long-term relationship with WWE, which dates back to 2003, and we are glad that, once again, WWE has recognized the Sky platform as a key driver for maximizing exposure of its brand,” said Matteo Mammi, Rights, Programming and Production Director, Sky Italia. “We look forward to working together and continuing to serve WWE fans in Italy.”
The WWE Network is still unavailable in the country.
WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hit Man” Hart did not have good things to say about his sister-in-law Martha during his appearance on Jim Ross’ Ross Report podcast.
Talking about the upcoming Owen Hart DVD that WWE is producing and releasing later this year, Bret said that Martha was wrong in how she’s dealing with the situation and thinks that she’s trying everything to erase wrestling from Owen’s life. He even ended up calling her selfish and childish.
Bret said that while Martha and her kids are not supporting the DVD, the majority of the Hart family is backing the project and some of them are going to be interviewed for the documentary part of the release.
The Hitman added that it will be good and very important that Owen is remembered for what he did in wrestling and a DVD is a good way to do that.
Triple H announced on Twitter that the company has signed two Indian wrestlers to a developmental deal and they have already reported to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
The two are Lovepreet Sangha and Satinder Ved Pal, who now join other fellow International wrestlers in the newest class at the state-of-the-art Performance Center.
Sangha has fought in Kabaddi, a contact sport that originated in Ancient India and is a 6 feet and 225 pounds.
Ved Pal is a wrestler in India and is a two-time national heavyweight champion in Kushti. He stands 6’4” and weighs 235 pounds.
The post-Elimination Chamber Monday Night Raw drew a total of 3,974,000 viewers, up around 375,000 viewers from the previous week.
Hour one did 3,964,000 viewers, followed by 4,113,000 in the second hour, and then down to 3,862,000 in the third and final hour. (Ratings credit: PWInsider.com)
Stone Cold Steve Austin welcomed Paul Heyman to the Stone Cold podcast last night on the WWE Network during a live show from San Antonio, Texas, backstage at Monday Night Raw. Heyman said he was humbled and feels it should be the other way round, him interviewing Austin and not this.
Austin covered the history between two and how Heyman put him in the Dangerous Alliance and later got him in ECW. Heyman recounts how they originally met, mentions Austin’s ex-wife (which Austin said he didn’t have to do that!) and five weeks after meeting the two were working together.
Heyman said the Dangerous Alliance was something to fight off the 4 Horsemen and the idea was to build the faction around Rick Rude. Heyman told Rhodes that something was missing and that something was Steve Austin.
Austin asked when is Brock Lesnar coming back and Heyman said it’s public knowledge now that he’s coming back soon. He said that Lesnar has been on the farm, as he’s a farmer and a hunter and most of the money he made from WWE before, the UFC, and what he’s making now he goes and buys more farm land because deep down Brock Lesnar is a farmer. He said no matter how much UFC wins he has, how much WrestleManias he gets to main event, he goes back home to his farm and that’s what he likes.
Austin told Heyman to fix a meeting with Lesnar so the two can go hunt together and if they want the WWE Network crew can tag along to film it. Heyman said he’s Jewish and hunting is not his thing.
The Rattlesnake asked how close Lesnar was to going to UFC earlier this year and Heyman said in January Lesnar held a mini training camp and if no WWE deal was coming he was ready to go in a full training camp and go to the UFC. He didn’t care who his opponent would be as he would have been ready.
Heyman said Brock was torn about the decision as he enjoyed his WWE run, ending the streak, the SummerSlam match with Cena, and basically everything in between. But at the end of the day he’s an athlete, hunter, predator, and if he managed to do all the things he did in the UFC with diverticulitis, imagine now what he can accomplish having a clean bill of health. Heyman said the two are having a blast now and Lesnar is enjoying his time in WWE for the first time in a very long time.
Austin says that many people think Lesnar doesn’t enjoy wrestling considering he doesn’t do many dates. Heyman said Lesnar loves the business but loves his children more and those kids need their father more than WWE needs Lesnar. He said anytime Lesnar appears it’s special and you can’t miss a Lesnar match. He compares a Lesnar match to Christmas Eve, saying it loses the meaning if they do it every week.
Austin says people want more of Heyman and asks if he’s ready to take on more clients. He said he and Lesnar has an interesting dynamic as they are true friends outside the business so it translates perfectly on television. When you put him with another man, fans will still see him as Brock’s advocate so the idea doesn’t work well.
Heyman said the other person he’s friends with is CM Punk and that’s why that worked as well on television although he played a different role with Punk than he does with Lesnar. He said Punk did all the work and all he did was stand in the background and clap. Austin asked if he still talks to Punk and Heyman said they do everyday.
He said they text more than they talk but it’s a great friendship outside the business. He said Punk sees UFC as a challenge and doesn’t care about money. He probably regrets not getting there earlier, but it was time to pull the trigger. Heyman said Punk believes he will either shock everyone in the Octagon or get knocked out/tapped out and he accepts both possibilities.
Austin brings up the art of selling and mentions how everyone now kicks out of the DDT for example and other finishing moves. Heyman said that if they take Mark Henry or someone his size and make his finishing move the headlock and he taps people out in a few seconds, the move will get over as long as the wrestlers put it over, as long as the announcers put it over, and as long as everyone protect the move.
The discussion turns into cutting promos and Austin said there’s something missing in the big picture. Heyman talked about closing the final show before his first Starrcade and Dusty gave him the opportunity to go ahead and knock it out of the park. He talked for 4 minutes putting everyone over and ended with a stupid punchline. He went backstage and Dusty said it was entertaining but he forgot he had to sell the event.
Austin asks if he gives advice to others and Heyman said that whoever comes and ask for advice he will help but he doesn’t impose on others. He said that there seems to be a disconnect on how wrestlers take a mic and start talking about the events of last week before they do three simple things – introduce themselves, what they do, and what they will be selling. He feels like they are not engaging with the audience but rather preaching.
Austin brings up Vince Sr and a photo flashes on TV which Heyman says he took. He said he made the first $50 from Vince Sr and that was a pic of Vince and Andre at MSG. He recounted how he hustled his way to a press pass, got on the phone with Vince Sr, and the next month he gave the Andre photo to Vince in the hallway of MSG. Vince Sr then sent The Fink to give him the $50 and told him to keep giving them photos. He said he got a lot of $50 notes but never straight from Vince Sr.
Austin asked what’s the difference between Vince Sr and Jr. He said Vince Sr was in a different TV industry era, the era of syndication and territories, and when Vince Jr bought it, cable was already out there. He talked how Lou Albano was the guy who got fired the most in the history of WWWF/WWF/WWE for being drunk every show hating on Vince Jr and then brought back every time and apologizes.
When asked how is the relationship now with McMahon, Heyman said it’s probably better than before because they don’t have to interact every day. When he came in 2001 he was tasked to give contrary opinion and that was a big challenge. He said he changed the way he deals with Vince McMahon now and that fatherhood has chilled him out.
When he came in as Smackdown head writer his plan was to surpass Raw and they did. Austin asked about the infamous 2006 private jet ride he shared with McMahon and Heyman said Vince never talked about it publicly so he doesn’t think he has the right to break that confidentiality. But in a nutshell, what happened was that it was his time to go as he lost his passion, mainly thanks to how they dealt with the ECW revival and Vince told him they can’t co-exist together and one of them has to go. He said there was a really, really, really, really bad show and it got heated afterward with Heyman telling Vince what did you do to my brand (ECW) and McMahon telling Heyman what you did to my investment!
The two go over some funny road trips from the WCW days. Heyman recounts a story where he was riding with Austin and Rude and Austin loved to use the words “God damn” with every letter. Rude got annoyed and stopped the car and asked Austin to stop using the “Fu****g Lord’s name in vain.” Austin apologized and said he would not say it again and when Rude said thank you, Austin replied with a “You’re God damn welcome.”
Another road trip story featured Sting, the Steiners, and the Samoan Swat Team. Sting used to drive with the Steiners and when they used to see a car full of wrestlers, Sting would drive close to the other car, Rick Steiner would get out of the window with Scott holding his legs and they would open the other car’s door. There was something wrong with the car locks, so they ended up calling Locksmith Brisbane to fix it.
One time Heyman was riding with the Samoans and they see Sting and Steiners fast approaching behind them. Knowing what’s coming, they locked the doors and when Steiner couldn’t open the door, he went back in and they all started throwing food at Heyman’s car. Pissed off, the Samoans told Heyman to stop at a convenience store, bought up tons of food and proceeded to have a road war, throwing food, bottles, baseballs, and everything else. When they arrived at the Charlotte airport, the car was totaled and to this day, Paul reveals he’s still banned – 26 years later – from renting a car in Charlotte.
Heyman and Austin reverse roles and Paul start to ask Austin some questions of his own. He asks Austin what he thinks of Cena using the Springboard Stunner, and Austin said that now a bunch of them kicked out of it so it’s not very effective. He said it doesn’t bother him and he’s a Cena fan but he thinks it’s a high risk move due to slippery ropes.
Then the question everyone was waiting for came. “Would you like to fight Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32?”
Austin said he’d kick Brock Lesnar’s ass and Heyman once again asked if he’s ready for The Rattlesnake vs The Beast in Texas. Austin said it’s a great place to settle the score, but he doesn’t want to take the momentum out of Lesnar and Heyman because if they roll in the AT&T Stadium with 100,000 fans, Lesnar is going to get his ass smoked.
Heyman turned his cell phone on to call Lesnar and a bunch of text messages were coming in, one of which was “fire all writers” which funny enough was sent by a current WWE creative writer.
Austin then cut a promo on Lesnar and Heyman and said he would open a can of whoop ass on Lesnar. “Can we make it happen? We can discuss it,” Austin said, and Heyman suggested they go talk to Vince McMahon now.
The WWE Hall of Famer said that if it does go down he has three words for him: Texas Death Match.
The interview ended with Austin and Heyman going against each other as a riled up Austin thanked Heyman for coming to the show.
The main event for the Money In The Bank pay-per-view was made official last night on Raw as Seth Rollins will take on Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight title in a ladder match.
Ambrose, who’s holding the title belt hostage after he was screwed at Elimination Chamber, requested a ladder match as his rematch, a request which was delivered by his former Shield partner Roman Reigns at the start of the show.
Money In The Bank is just two weeks away and so far only two other matches have been announced apart from the WWE title match. These are John Cena vs Kevin Owens and the MITB ladder match for the contract involving Ziggler, Neville, Reigns, Orton, Kingston, and Sheamus.
